The Itinerary
'"The Itinerary" '''is the twelfth episode of ''New Frontier, the fifth season, and the nintieth episode overall. It was told and narrated by Rhys, premiering on August 31, 2014. In the episode, Simon is unnerved by what he finds in both the Archduke's office and the bowels of Tomorrowland. The Episode "He's getting his treatment," the secretary said when Simon came in for work. The Archduke was out for the day. "Easy enough, then," Simon said, "I'll just tidy up in there." The secretary opened the door for him. The chamber was indeed empty. The Archduke had no Cases for the day, no legal matters to attend to. He already gave his condemnation speech for President Amy and his hopes for a more peaceful President in the Nicholas Walsh guy. But Nicholas was facing a ton of crap for betraying Amy and was too busy avoiding scandal to focus on Tomorrowland. Meanwhile, Simon was incredibly happy. Cherry had asked to move in with him, taking their relationship to an entirely new level. His pay had nearly tripled and the Archduke had an entirely newfound faith in him. And the 71st Doctor's premiere was tonight. He only had four hours of work today. And then two hours after that until Whoman. What a superb day. Simon straightened the clutter on the Archduke's desk. Letters from the Viceroy were stacked in a pile. All were supposed to be burned, even though they had not been opened. The Archduke was in the habit of not listening to his Viceroys. Simon swept the letters into the furnace. Simon climbed to the command desk. He had rarely been up there without the Archduke present. The enormous armchair in which the Archduke would sit when alone was pulled back. Simon inched toward it. He had never seen it unoccupied before. When he rounded to the front, he wrinkled his nose in confusion. There were wires, probes, buttons, gadgets, etc lining the backing and armrests. It looked like Frankestein's laboratory crammed onto a chair. What the hell? Was the Archduke a cyborg? He was ill, Simon knew that. But how ill? Now that he thought about it, he had never seen the Archduke do anything beside stand up. Was he crippled? Did he receive shock therapy in his own chair? Simon straightened. I'm spying, he thought, on the freaking Archduke. He hurried away from the chair and down the stairs. He made sure everything in the chamber was satisfactory and then moved to the Spacewalk Platform. Simon approached the panel. The Spacewalk arena was empty. No one was using it these days. Too dangerous. On the panel, the Archduke left instructions for Simon. Clean the office, check. Burn the letters, check. Deliver itinerary to Vek Dock. Not check. Simon downloaded the itinerary and printed it out. Everything in Tomorrowland was electronic, but the Archduke preferred the highly secret itinerary to be delivered to the ship captain in person. Every time a group of Case victims were deemed guilty, they were loaded on a ship bound for islands of exile. They departed from the old Nautilus docks, though the rest of Nautilus, and its Viceroy, Judy, were long missing. Many people called Nautilus the "Atlantis of Tomorrowland." Simon sealed the itinerary in an envelope and set out for the docks. The Archduke had a horrible day of treatment. His doctor said another six hours in his chair would ameliorate the pain, but how likely was that? He examined the battery of his chair. Running low. He wondered if that itinerary had made it to the Captain yet. The Archduke disassembled his wheelchair and stuffed it in the wardrobe. He locked it. No one must know. Especially his Viceroys. During his tenure as Archduke, he had always been told to not trust his Viceroys. They all hated him. More than anything. Simon had never been to the CQQ before. He didn't even know what CQQ stood for, but that's what it was always called. The ship's Captain, Major Hewitt, was at his desk, waiting for the itinerary delivery. "Who are you?" the Captain demanded when Simon approached. "I'm the assistant to the Archduke." "Another one, eh?" Hewitt said, "Good luck, boy." Simon said nothing and gave the itinerary to the Captain. "Safe travels," Simon said as he left. And he meant that. Most ships did not survive the turbulent waters. The ocean is what flooded Nautilus. Of course, the ships were equipped with incredibly safe lifeboats, but those that were exiled were not given spots on those lifeboats. Simon glanced around the CQQ. It was very wet and murky down here. The entire thing was underwater. It wasn't always though, apparently. Nowadays, because it was too expensive to rebuild such an expensive facility, engineers spent all day trying to stop leaks and cracks in the glass. Basically spending an eternity preventing the place from flooding and collapse. Across from the Captain's desk was a tunnel. It was blocked off, roped off, and seemingly protected by lasers. A sign on the door read "Archduke only." The Archduke was famous for keeping secrets. It was one of the terror tactics he used against his citizens. Simon never thought much of them, as he was exposed to almost all of them at work. He was mostly concerned with his own personal life than the bigger picture around him. VMK and Tomorrowland, Viceroy scandals, ships, all that hardly affected his life. Simon returned to the Archduke. The Archduke rubbed his head. He just got off the phone. He was giving orders. Another thorough investigation of Oahu, the Viceroy of Autopia Earth. She was suspected of plotting treason against the Archduke. Again. He was hoping for once she would be found guilty. A Case of the People could then be issued against her. But Tomorrowland had never seen a Case of the People. And they probably would not now. The Archduke sighed and slumped in his chair. The pain had not been deleted. He was still in excruciating agony. As usual. He felt somewhat liberated after his several phone calls that day, however. It was always nice to have such power. The influence of Xerxes. Production Continuity and Story Arcs The mystery of Xerxes continued when it was revealed that The Archduke also holds influence with Xerxes. References Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is referenced when Simon is investigating the Archduke's chair. Shutdown During the broadcast of the episode, while Simon was inspecting the Archduke's chair, the power was suddenly and inexplicably cut. The power outage lasted for about 15 minutes. Trivia *The introduction of the CQQ will serve as a precursor to the pre-mid-season-finale, "The Night to Remember." *For the first time, the Inner Space Shrinking Machine and Captain's Quest Quarters were used for room storytelling. Category:Episodes Category:New Frontier Episodes